Is your cash 100% safe in British banks and building societies?
The answer very much depends on where you keep your nest egg.
Thanks to the near-collapse of some of Britain's biggest banks way back in 2008, the Government beefed up the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the state-supported safety net for savers.
Now the FSCS guarantees 100% of the first £85,000 of cash savings per person per banking licence (including interest).
Therefore, a couple with up to £170,000 in a joint account has all of this cash covered by the FSCS.
The important words here are 'per banking licence', as often seemingly unrelated banks can actually fall under the same umbrella.
That means you should always spread your cash across different providers rather than simply brands.
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Which bank owns which brand?
To help you work out how safe your cash is we've compiled a list of the biggest British banking and savings providers, showing you who owns whom.
With hundreds of different institutions to choose from, we haven't listed them all here. Instead, we've concentrated on the UK's biggest brands.
Remember, you get only one lot of £85,000 of FSCS protection per person for the total amount you hold across these banking licences.
So let's take a look at who owns each of the bank brands.
1. HBOS
- Bank of Scotland
- Birmingham Midshires
- Halifax
- Intelligent Finance
- Saga
2. Lloyds Banking Group
- Lloyds Bank.
Despite HBOS being acquired by Lloyds Bank, both HBOS and Lloyds Banking Group continue to operate under separate banking licences.
3. TSB
4. Barclays
- Barclays
- Standard Life
5. HSBC
- first direct
- HSBC
- M&S Bank
Get paid £100 for joining first direct
6. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
7. NatWest
8. Ulster Bank
9. Coutts & Co
Please note that RBS subsidiaries NatWest, Ulster Bank and Coutts all have their own, separate banking licences and are not covered by the RBS licence.
So £85,000 with RBS and the same sum with NatWest, Ulster Bank and Coutts would be covered for four times £85,000 (£340,000) by the FSCS.
10. Santander UK
- Cahoot
- Santander
11. The Co-operative Bank
- Britannia BS
- Smile
- The Co-operative Bank
12. Bank of Ireland UK
- Bank of Ireland UK
- AA
- Post Office
13. Clydesdale Bank PLC (CYBG)
- Clydesdale Bank
- Yorkshire Bank
- Virgin Money
14. Sainsbury's Bank
15. Tesco Bank
16. Monzo
17. Starling Bank
18. Al Rayan Bank
20. Gatehouse Bank
21. Revolut
Britain's biggest building societies
1. Nationwide BS
- Cheshire BS
- Derbyshire BS
- Dunfermline BS
- Nationwide BS
2. Yorkshire BS
- Barnsley BS
- Chelsea BS
- Norwich and Peterborough BS
- Yorkshire BS
3. Coventry BS
- Coventry BS
- Stroud and Swindon BS
4. Skipton BS
- Chesham BS (renamed Skipton BS)
- Scarborough BS (renamed Skipton BS)
- Skipton BS
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Foreign banks and the FSCS
Some European banks accept British savings, but are not covered by the FSCS. Instead, under what's called the 'savings passport' scheme, some banks from the European Economic Area are covered by their home country's compensation scheme for savings.
Well-known examples include:
- RCI Bank (France - €100,000)
- Triodos Bank (Netherlands - €100,000)
- N26 (Germany - €100,000)
However, other banks from around the world with a UK subsidiary are covered by the FSCS £85,000 guarantee. These include:
- Axis Bank UK;
- ICICI Bank UK;
- State Bank of India UK
- Marcus by Goldman Sachs
- Cynergy Bank (previously Bank of Cyprus)
NS&I
Finally, the Government's own piggy bank, National Savings & Investments (NS&I), isn't actually covered by the FSCS. Instead, it gets the full backing of the Treasury, meaning all your deposits - including those above £85,000 - are fully protected.
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